How Does Holden Use Delusions In Catcher In The Rye

People deal with overwhelming and frightening situations differently. Some people might immediately begin searching for a solution while others may use delusions as a way of coping and avoiding the problem completely. In J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, Holden struggles to accept the adult world and all of its flaws and instead, creates delusions to escape the impeding issue. The author shows that denial and rejection are a part of human nature that are utilized as protection against whatever is being rejected. However, when Holden’s childishly innocent yet intelligent sister Phoebe helps to redirect him towards accepting society, he is brought back down to earth. Holden’s rejection of society and adulthood is demonstrated through his escapist fantasies of being a gunshot victim, the catcher in the rye,

Salinger creates this symbolic scene to show how Holden views himself as a martyr who is being destroyed by the horrors of the adult world that he does not wish to enter. He puts on a rugged and older exterior to unsuccessfully protect himself from the world’s corruption. Holden, drunk and stumbling along the street, imagines that he has been shot: “I kept putting my hand under my jacket, on my stomach and all, to keep the blood from dripping all over the place. I didn’t want anybody to know I was even wounded. I was concealing the fact that I was a wounded sonuvabitch” (Salinger 166). Holden is also severely injured in reality because of the lack of love and nurturing he has received in his life. He tries to put on a tough face to use as walls against the evil in society, but truly he just craves the sympathy and companionship of another person. He describes himself as “a wounded sonuvabitch” because he is mentally in pain. Holden tries to act strong and brave to “conceal” his agony. He portrays himself as a hero fighting the pain and continuing to walk though he has been “shot;” however, because he is